Hood fastener



C. S. RICKER Dec. 30, 1930.

HOOD FASTENER Filed June 14, 1924 CQJEN S INVENTOR.

UNETEE? STATES CHESTER S. RICKER, F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA HOOD FASTENER Application filed. June 14, 1924. Serial No. 719,973.

It is the object of my invention to produce an easily operated fastener of simple construction for retaining the hood of an automobile in closed position. it is a further oba ject of my invention to produce such a hood fastener in which most of the parts will be within the hood when the hood is closed, where they will be protected from the weather and will not detract from the appearance of the automobile. A further object of my invention is to produce such a hood fastener which will draw the lower end of the hood inward against a stop as well as drawing the hood downward.

I accomplish the above objects by providing a coiled tension spring which is supported from the automobile frame within the hood and in position to engage a rotatable cam mounted on the hood and rotatable by a handle on the outside of the hood.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention: Fig. 1 is a cross sectional elevation of my hood fastener showing the hood locked in place; Fig. 2 is a view showing my 5 hood fastener as it appears from within the hood.

Mounted on each side of an automobile frame are one or more stops 11 against which the hood 12 is to be held by the hood fastener. Preferably, each stop 11 is provided with a button 13 of cushioning material to avoid rattling of the hood against the stop. Mounted on the side of the hood 12 is a flanged bearing 14 which is secured in place on the hood by means of rivets 15 which pass through the hood and through the bearing flange. Supported in the bearing 14 and pass ing through the hood is a rotary member 16 provided on its inner end with a flange 17. This rotary member 16 may conveniently be made in one piece of drawn sheet metal.

Mounted in any suitable manner on the inner face of the flange 17 is a cam 18. The cam 18 is conveniently held in place against the flange 17 by means of ears 19 which are integral with the flange 17 and which engage notches inthe center portion 20 of the cam 18 and are bent over against the face of such center portion 20 to hold it securely against 0 the face of the flange 17.

The rotary element 16 projects out beyond the end of the bearing 14, and the projecting outer end supports a handle 24, which may be rigidly attached to the rotatable element 16 by any suitable means as by the tapered pin 25.

Supported from the frame 10 is a coiled tension spring 26 provided at its upper end with a hook 27. This tension spring may conveniently be supported by means of a bolt 28 which passes through the projecting end of the stop 11 and the head of which engages the last turn of the coil spring 26, this last turn being made of smaller diameter for that purpose. In order that the coil spring 26 may act to draw the hood 12 inward against the stop 11, the coil spring is set at an angle with the vertical, so that its upper end is nearer the side of the hood 12 than is its lower end. The coil spring 26 is a close-wound spring, so that when released the coils thereof will lie against each other and locate the hook 28 in a definite position relative to the hook-cam 18, so that the point of the cam will readily engage the hook when the cam is turned in the direction to fasten the hood.

The cam 18 is in the form of a spirally curved finger, the outer end of which is at such a distance from the center of the rotatable element 16 that it will engage the hook 27 of the spring 26 when the spring 26 is in its closed or released position. After engagement of the outer end of the cam 18 with the hook 27, rotation of the cam in a clockwise direction (Fig. 2) results in drawing the spring hook 27 upward by reason of the spiral nature of the cam 18. This extension of the spring draws the hood 12 securely down the inward against the stop 11. Preferably, the surface of the cam 18 which engages the hook 27 is provided near its inner end with a lockingdepression 29 which prevents accidental backward rotation of the cam to release the tension on the spring 26.

I prefer to make the cam 18 helical as well as spiral, with its outer end farther from the hood 12 than is its inner end. By virtue of such a shape, the tendency of the spring 26 to hold the hood 12 inward against the stop 11 is considerably increased.

By means of a hood fastener such as I have bed, the hood of an automobile may *ly held downward and inward against a suitable stop. The only exposed parts of the hood lock are the bearing 14 and the handle 24, all the other working parts of the hood fastener being inside of the hood where they are protected from the weather and do not detract from the appearance of the automobile. As practically all the parts of the hood fastener may be made of drawn or stamped sheet metal, the hood fastener can be easily and cheaply constructed.

I claim as my invention l. A fastener for retaining an automobile hood against its associated sill, comprising a tension spring attached at one end to said sill, and a spiral cam carried by said hood and rotatably mounted thereon, said cam having a cannning surface which, as the cam is rotated, engages the free end of the spring and moves thereover to stretch the spring, said cam being provided at one end of said camming surface with a locking depression into which the free end of the spring may drop after it has been stretched.

2. A fastener for retaining an automobile hood against its associated sill, comprising a tension spring attached at one end to said sill, and a spiral cam carried by said hood and rotatable about an axis at an angle to the hood, said cam having a camming surface adapted to engage the free end of said spring to stretch said spring as the cam is rotated.

8. The combination set forth in claim 2 with the addition that said cam is located within the hood and that the end of its camming surface closest to its axis of rotation is closer to the inner surface of the hood than is the other end of the camming surface.

4. A fastener for retaining an automobile hood against its associated sill, comprising a spring carried by the sill, a member extending through the hood and rotatable about an axis at an angle to the hood, said member being provided within the hood with a cam adapted to co-act with the spring to stress the spring and hold the hood closed.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 10th day of June, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and twenty-four.

CHESTER S. RICKER. 

